Niagara University's volunteer income tax assistance program returns for year 32

by jmaloni

Press release

Tue, Jan 8th 2013 03:10 pm

Starting
in February, students from Niagara University's College of Business
Administration will once again provide free tax preparation assistance to
members of the Niagara Falls community.

In
2012 - the 31st year that the university offered the program -
Niagara students helped local residents file 479 tax returns, totaling more
than $575,000 in federal and state refunds.

Assistant
accounting professor James Ingham said he was proud of the 77 students who
contributed more than 860 volunteer hours to the program last year, his first
as coordinator. This tax season, Ingham said he hopes that Niagara can - as the
university's mantra suggests - "do more."

"When
we talk about creating an educational environment that is enhanced through
service and experiential learning, this is exactly what we mean," said Ingham,
who owns an MBA and is a certified public accountant. "It's wonderful to offer
this service to people who may not be able to afford a professional accountant,
and it gives our students an opportunity to apply the knowledge they've acquired
in the classroom to the real world."

Sponsored
by the Internal Revenue Service, the program, called volunteer income tax
assistance, or VITA, is entering its 32nd year at Niagara. Under the
program, NU students prepare and electronically file federal and state tax
returns free of charge for elderly and low-income taxpayers in the community.
The program is coordinated by members of Beta Alpha Psi, the international
honor society for accounting, and the college's Accounting Society.

Beginning
Feb. 12, assistance will be provided from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. at Niagara
University (St. Vincent's Hall, Room 207) on the following dates:

Feb. 12, 14, 19, 21, 26 and 28

March 12, 14, 19, 21 and 26

April 2 and 4

Sessions
will also be held at the Doris W. Jones Family Resource Building (3001 9th St.,
Niagara Falls) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the following Wednesdays:

Feb. 13, 20 and 27

March 13, 20 and 27

No
appointments are needed to participate in this free service.

Niagara
University's VITA program has garnered national accolades from Beta Alpha Psi,
an organization with more than 300,000 members in 300 chapters on college and
university campuses around the world.